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Arts & Entertainment

Review: 'Meet Me in St. Louis'

A show full of toe-tapping music that's fun for the whole family.

The Stagecrafters have brought the classic musical Meet Me in St. Louis to the Baldwin Theatre. Once again the cast and crew have brought the magic of live performance to the stage with an elegant flair.

There’s something about theater that has an addictive quality. Walking into the Baldwin and being inside the ornate interior of the building with the anticipation of seeing a live performance holds a certain kind of excitement.

Meet Me in St. Louis has a talented cast of actors and actresses with impeccable acting skills and fantastic voices. The beautiful costumes are a whimsical array of pastels in shades of pink, blue, green and purple. The whole production has a sparkling energy that comes together seamlessly with great music and acting.

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“The cast has worked very hard to portray characters who lived in a gentler, simpler era,” says director Dolly Scheibelhut. “Talented designers, painters and builders have recreated a venue representing a much simpler time over 100 years age.”

Meet Me in St. Louis is based on the classic movie musical starring Judy Garland. The story takes place in 1904 and follows a year in the life of the Smith family right around the time of the World Fair.

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The close-knit family consists of father Mr. Alonso Smith (Tony Battle of Royal Oak), mother Mrs. Anna Smith (Lydia Williams of Detroit), son Lon (Eric Martin of Berkley), daughters Rose (Celeste Blanch of Birmingham, Esther (Meredith Deighton of Bloomfield Hills), Agnes (Regan Castle of Pleasant Ridge and Sophie Sawicki of Royal Oak in rotation), Tootie (Catrina Buchanan of Royal Oak and Emily Lourim of Troy in rotation), Grandpa Prophater (Ed Berger of Pleasant Ridge) and their Irish live-in maid Katie (Megan Meade-Higgins of Northville).

While the two younger daughters; Agnes and Tootie are all about being mischievous, the elder daughters Rose and Esther are starry eyed for their beaus. Son Lon is college bound and the family is looking forward to the future in St. Louis when a wrench gets thrown into the plan. Mr. Smith announces that he’s gotten a job promotion and the family will be moving to New York. This upsets the family greatly but they eventually seem to accept their fate--except for Tootie.

The singing and dancing is choreographed beautifully and the musical features the catchy standards “The Trolley Song,” “Meet Me in St. Louis,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “The Boy Next Door.”

“I loved the singing and thought that the little girls in the performance were delightful little actresses,” says Rita Brown of Berkley. “I’ve been coming to the Stagecrafters shows for a few years now and they are always very enjoyable.”

Meet Me in St. Louis showcases a dazzling array of talent with a cast that radiates their love and passion for the theater and music. The production is fun, wistful, family-friendly and will have you tapping your feet to the music. The production runs through Oct. 9. Don’t miss out on seeing this fantastic performance.

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